X-ray equipment



Patented June 28, 1949 UNITE D X-RAY EQUIPMENT Oswald Conrad'Hollstein, SecaucusN. J^.assignor to F-Ri Machine Works,.Long,Island, City, N .Y.,.

Application February 19, 1f9'48; Serial-'NmV 9,519

(Cl. Z50-105.?)

3 Claims.

This invention relates to novel apparatus for determiningvthe position of they area of a body to be subjected to irradiation and particularly X-rays. More particularly, this inventionis directed to such apparatus and means for readily ascertaining. conditions of setting so that adjustments maybe readily-and easily made.

Prior to this invention, Juan. A. Del Regato proposed coupling an X-ray tube housing containing. an X-ray tube therein with an X-ray localizer. a closed. housing. having an opening in both its upper and lower ends.. Fixedly mounted in the housing and below the upper opening therein was amirror. ror and mounted in the housing was a point source of light. Mounted on the bottom of the housing and at the opening in the lower end thereof was a shutter box containing two pairs of separately adjustable shutters for adjustably limiting the size of. the. opening whose center isk always. coincident with the central ray ofthe X- raybeam of said tube through which X-rays may pass. The X-ray tube andiits housing was mounted on the upper part of the localizer housing at the upper opening therein. In this combination. as, proposed by Del Regato the central X- ray of thevX-ray. beam from the X-ray tube intersects the central, light ray of^ the beam from the light source atsubstantially right angles and this intersection. is located substantially at the mirror reflecting, surface, with they distance of said central4 X-rayA from the target. of the X-ray tube to. said reecting surface of the mirror being substantially equal to. the. distance of said central: light ray from said light source to said reflecting surface of the mirror. The mirror was xedly and rigidly mounted in. the housing at an angle-of 455 to bothv said central X-ray and said central light ray. Withy this combination, that portion of the: X-ray beam: below thev mirror is coincident with the reflected light beam.

Withthis construction, a patient is placed on a table below theshutter housing andv withl the X-ray" tube inoperative, but with the lightA source energized, a beam of light strikes the mirror and is reflected downwardly through the opening between the adjustable shutters and ontothe patient; The entire apparatusl is oi? course movable verticallyfupwardly or downwardly until thatv portion of the bod-y to be treated is located the desired distance from the target. This, is ascertained. byV means of ameasuringy stickor tape; 'Ihe` entire apparatus may also be moved horizontally' sotherportion of the; bodyy to The localizer consisted essentially of' Located to one side of the mir-A 2 be treated is located below the-target. The location. ofi` that, portion, of the body to be treated may be ascertained by noting that portion of the body whichv is illuminated by the reflected light from the mirror. In order to limitl the area to be: treated, the: four blade shutters may be adjusted soa that the illuminatedv area of the body to be treated is` mi the desired size, and the di- I mensions thereof may be ascertained with a. tape measure. rIfhe size and shape of the area to be treated. is.. predetermined, with` the shape usually beings rectangular. Obviously, the sizeof the illuminatedzareaof thepatient is dependent upon the: size` of= the.A opening at the shutters and the distance of the-'target from, said. area, which distance in greater part of practice is usually 50.

or'lO centimeter focal: skin distance. Then after all of these adjustmentsearemade the X-ray tube l to confine-the X-ray beam. When an X-ray apparatus is to be used for this purpose, the cone is inserted in the cavity and the opening at the free endl of the cone is placed over the area to be subjected. to X-rays, and with the periphery of the. end of the cone being in contact with the skin.,r With: the construction as proposed by Del Regato, it is not feasible to determine whether theropening at the free end of the cone is in line with the area. tob e treated because the visible light at that area cannot be seen. Consequently, that construction must be modied or other types ot apparatus must be and have been used for such intra-orali and intra-cavity treatment and these variousy apparatusl are known as periscopic coning devices:

In the course" ofmy' experimentation with X- ray units; I have discovered that I may provide an X-ray unit` having a plurality of interchangeable partsv so.V it may be employed either as a localizer and/0r an intra-cavity or an intra-oral X-ray unit. The novel unit may be employed eitherV as. a-.localizer or for periscopic coning of an area. tobe treated depending on the interchangeable part employed;

The; invention may.'44 be made by modifying the Del Regate construction so that full advantage may be taken of the Del Regate principle and at the same time increasing its eld of use.

In order to be able to take advantage of the Del Regato principle, at least in a more practical and eiiicient manner, I have provided a pair of interchangeable parts. One of these parts has a viewing window located to one side of the mirror and preferably below the point source of light so that there is a substantially unobstructed view between said window and the reflecting surface of said mirror; and the other having a viewing window in the path at 45 to the mirror at the point of intersection of the central X-ray and said mirror and a plurality of sources of light located adjacent the window and outside of said paths. These parts are interchangeable, so that when one is employed, the unit may serve as a localizer and, when the other is substituted therefor, the unit may serve for intra-oral or intra-cavity treatment.

In order to ascertain directly the size of the area to be treated when located at a plurality of different distances from the target of X-ray tube, the shutter plates have calibrated scales thereon. These scales are so calibrated that the graduation marks thereof signify the length and width of the area to be treated when located at a predetermined distance from the X-ray tube target. The graduation marks are so arranged that their image in the mirror is upright and may be read directly when viewed through the window.

These and other objects and advantages of this invention will be readily apparent from the following description and appended drawings, wherein:

Fig. 1 is a view chiefly in section illustrating an embodiment of the invention.

Fig. 2 is a view chiefly in section of the apparatus shown in Fig. l. and modied so as to serve as an intra-oral or intra-cavity unit.

Fig. 3 is a fragmentary top plan view of the shutters showing some of the shutters having calibrated scales thereon for different pre-determined distances from the skin of the patient to the target of the X-ray tube.

As shown in the drawings there is an X-ray tube housing lli in which is disposed an X-ray tube Ii having a target i2. A cylindrical skirt i3 depends from said housing le and is keyed to a ring i4. Connected to the lower end of ring is a localizer body l5 rotatable relative to ring I4. The localizer body l5 is essentially a hollow chamber having a central portion i5 open at both the upper and lower ends thereof and having a hollow side projecting portion il having an open end i9. Secured to the chamber i5 at the lower opening therein is a shutter box i8 having two pairs of shutter plates, with. one pair of plates 2|? and 2| being disposed at right angles to the other pair of plates 22 and 23. Each pair of shutter plates may be independently moved towards and away from each other by screws 2li. There are provided two sets of screws disposed at right angles to each other, the sets being independently actuable by movement of knobs 26 located outside of the housing. With this construction, the op erator may control the length and width of X-rays as well as visible light passing through the opening between the shutters which controls the corresponding dimension of the area treated by X-rays for particular shutter setting when the X-ray target is located at a particular distance from said area. A light reflector 3| such as a mirror is carried by a bracket 32 xedly mounted in the portion I6, with the reflector 3| being in the path of the X-ray beam from the target, with the central ray of said beam being at 45 to said reflector and passing through the center of the opening between the shutters. A pair of electric conductors 33 extend through a small opening in the portion i5 and terminate in a female plug connector 34 carried at the open end of the member il. A hollow member di) has a light source and preferably a point source of light 4| which may be an incandescent lamp of the so-called projection lamp type mounted therein at the free end thereof, and also mounted therein and at that end is a radiator 42. A pair of conductors it are connected to a socket (not shown) for lamp il and to a male plug 44 carried at the other end thereof and adapted to cooperate with plug 34 to complete an electric circuit for lamp 4|. The element t!! is provided with a viewing window 39 so located that when elements 40 and are properly combined or coupled in the manner shown in Fig. l the operator may have an unobstructed View of the reflector 3|, such as a glass mirror, located in the central portion IS of the chamber I5. In one of said embodiments the window 3D may be a rectangular cut-out of that side of element it adjacent the lamp 4| and radiator 42. This window 30 may extend across the entire width of element iii and it is as high as practical. If desired, the window 30 may have a glass or other transparent covering (not shown). If desired, the cooperating ends of the portion I1 and element d@ may be provided with a key and slot or other arrangement to assure their coupling in only one particular relationship. 'I'hey may be demountably secured to each other by any convenient mechanical means, such as lock plates or ordinary screws.

In the arrangement shown in Fig. l, the mirror 3i is at 45 to the central Yray of the X-ray beam from target |2 and the central ray of the light beam from the filament of the lamp 4| is also at 4 5" to the mirror 3i and the central light ray and the central X-ray intersect at mirror 3| and the distance of the central X-ray and the central light ray to mirror 3| are equal.

The lower side of the shutter box may have a pair of guide ways 55 accommodating the flange 56 of a demountable treatment cone 57 employed for intra-oral or intra-cavity treatment. When the device is to be used for those purposes and with the cone 5t in place, only partial view of the area illuminated is possible when the element 40 and the parts carried thereby are assembled in the manner shown in Fig. l because of the o-side position of the observers eye. Under these conditions, the illuminated area observed at the bottom of the treatment cone is essentially an oval and the remainder of that area is obstructed due to the oif-side viewing and the mirror at 45 angle. Therefore, I have provided a head 60 as shown in Fig. 2 which may be substituted for the head 4D shown in Fig. 1. This head 30 is essentially a tubular member having a central viewing opening 5| at the outer or free end thereof and around which are disposed a plurality. and preferably at least four lamps 62 spaced about 90 from each other and around an open-ended lightshielding cylindrical hollow member 63 extending inwardly beyond said lamps. The lamps 62 are connected in parallel. to conductors 65 connected to the sockets therefor and to a male plug 66. This head Bil may be connected to the portion in the same manner as the head 40. When so disposed, the central line in the viewing path from the eye of the observer to the mirror 3| is at the point of intersection of the central ray of the X-ray beam and the mirror and is at 45 to the mirror at this point so that with the lamps 62 energized, the observer obtains a full view of the entire area immediately adjacent the free end of the cone 5l. l

Thus, there is provided a main unit having the interchangeable heads 40 and 60. The head 40 is generally connected in the manner shown in Fig. 1 and the shutters may be properly adjusted and the assembly used as a localizer. When cavity treatment is required, the head 40 is removed, the shutters are opened full, cone 51 is coupled and head 60 is substituted for head 40.

While the invention has been described in detail, it is not to be limited to the exact construction shown because it is susceptible to various changes and modifications.

I claim:

1. In an X-ray apparatus, a housing open at the bottom and at one side and adapted to be coupled with a source of X-rays and normally to be located below said source, a demountable head coupled to said housing at the open side thereof, a source of light located in said head, a light reflector located in said housing, said reflector disposed in the path of a beam of X-rays from said source of X-rays and in the path of a beam of light from said source of light, said beams being angularly disposed with respect to each other and intersecting each other at said refiector, the central ray of said X-ray beam being at an angle of 45 to said reflector, means coupled with said housing and located below said reflector for controlling the size of said X-ray beam emitted therethrough and of the reflected light beam emitted downwardly through said housing and whose in-cident light beam emanates from said source of light, a 'window through which an observer may View in said reector an image of a surface outside of said means and illuminated by said reflected light beam, said viewing window being in the outer end of said head, the effective reflecting surface of said reflector facing said means and said window.

2. In an X-ray apparatus, a housing open at the bottom and at one side and adapted to be coupled With a source of X-rays and normally to be located below said source, a demountable head coupled with said housing at the open side thereof, a plurality of sources of light located in said head, a light reflector located in said housing, said reflector disposed in the path of a beam of X-rays from said source of X-rays and in the path of a beam of light from said source of light, said beams being disposed at an angle to each other and intersecting each other at said reflector, the central ray of said X-ray beam being at an angle of 45 to said reflector at said point of intersection, an X-ray treatment cone coupled with said housing and located below said reflector for controlling the size of said X-ray beam emitted therethrough and the reflected light beam emitted downwardly through said housing and whose incident light beam emanates from said sour-ce of light, a window through which an observer may view in said reflector an image of a surface outside of said means and illuminated by said reflected light beam, said viewing window being in the outer end of said head, the effective reflecting surface of said reflector facing said cone and said window.

3. In an X-ray apparatus, a housing having an opening in the bottom and at one side and adapted to be coupled with a source of X-rays and normally to be located below said source, a demountable head coupled with said housing at the open side thereof, a substantially point source of light located in said head, a light reflector located in said housing, said reflector disposed in the path of a beam of X-rays from said source of X-rays and in the path of a beam of light from said source of light, the central rays of said beams being at right angles to each other and intersecting each other at said reflector, said source of X-rays and said source of light being equidistant from said point of intersection, said central light ray being at an angle of 45 to said reflector at said point of intersection, adjustable means below said reflector for controlling the size of the reected light beam emitted downwardly through said housing and whose incident )light beam emanates from said source of light, a window through which an observer may View in said reflector an image of a surface outside of said means and illuminated by said reflected light beam, `said viewing window being in the outer end of said head, the effective reflecting surface of said reflector facing said lmeans and said window.

OSWALD CONRAD I-IOLLSTEIN.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,164,987 Bucky Dec. 21, 1915 v2,204,465 Baier June 11, 1940 

